Well he admits that he made bad choices. Obviously quitting his job was a bad choice - though I have spent several years around Hollywood folks and social norms regarding work amongst entertainment industry people in LA are a little different from the rest of us. There is a lot of pressure to show off your success - not always with flashy things but for the older guys, with freedom. Giving off the illusion of an early retirement is a status symbol with these guys. I'd say that factored into his thinking quite a bit - he wanted to show off that he could take a break like the other guys but ignored the fact that he had 8 children to feed. If he didn't have 8 kids he probably could have pulled it off even if he never found a job again.
And I've been in the situation where I had a comfy lifestyle and the income source to support it drops off. Its hard to let go of these things, your emotions get in the way. Scaling back is admitting failure, its damaging to the ego. So you ignore the warning signs and keep on living at the same standards - you keep the house, the car, go out for fancy meals with your friends etc like always. Meanwhile the debt racks up and up, but hey you have the credit to cover it. And you'll get the money back again soon, so don't worry. Until you don't, and shit hits the fan and one day you're packing up the house and living out of your car. Its of course his fault, but people don't always operate on logic
And I've been in the situation where I had a comfy lifestyle and the income source to support it drops off. Its hard to let go of these things, your emotions get in the way. Scaling back is admitting failure, its damaging to the ego. So you ignore the warning signs and keep on living at the same standards - you keep the house, the car, go out for fancy meals with your friends etc like always. Meanwhile the debt racks up and up, but hey you have the credit to cover it. And you'll get the money back again soon, so don't worry. Until you don't, and shit hits the fan and one day you're packing up the house and living out of your car. Its of course his fault, but people don't always operate on logic